This invention relates to handles for buckets, pails, cans, etc. and particularly to an apparatus providing an adjustable handle offset from the bucket center for improved access to the bucket contents.
It is known in the art to have paint buckets or cans with bails attached diametrically opposed to bucket side fixtures such that in use the bucket hangs from the bail with the bail over the bucket center, largely restricting access of a paint brush to the bucket or can contents. To improve access to the bucket or can, a painter will often lean the bail to a bucket side and support the bucket with his fingers pushing the bucket away as the bucket tends to fall again under the bail center. This might continue until the user's fingers become tired or sore. Other similar makeshift approaches for providing improving access to the can contents can be attempted, usually ending with similar results--temporary at best and generally unsatisfactory for extended or repeated use.
It is also known in the art to have bucket bails that lift with the handle in a vertical orientation but rest off-vertical. However, it is not previously known to have a handle or bail that lifts a bucket while in an off-vertical orientation. Prior bucket or kettle bails return to a vertical orientation when lifted.
It is the object of this invention to provide a handle offset from the bucket center line, more comfortable to a user's hand than a conventional bail, from which a paint can or bucket can indefinitely hang safely, the handle extending away from the bucket a distance greater than a typical bail to facilitate improved access to the bucket contents with less obstruction from the handle.
It is a further object that the offset handle be adjustable. It is a another object that the handle be mountable to a paint bucket with or without a bucket bail. It is yet another object that the handle be mountable to a range of bucket sizes.
These objectives are obtained with the present invention by means of a bail apparatus mountable to a conventional paint can. The apparatus includes a handle adjustably secured in a selective off-vertical orientation from which the bucket hangs. Stability and leveraged advantage in supporting the bucket with the bucket hanging from the handle with the handle in an off-vertical orientation relative to the bucket is obtained through two handle pivot pins fitting into two matching closed bracket holes in each of two mounting brackets mounted in diametric opposition on the bucket to support the apparatus handle.